Once PS3-only, Insomniac to bring IP to 360 via EA Partners

Best known for franchises like Resistance and Ratchet & Clank, Insomniac Games is a developer that is closely associated with Sony, having released games exclusively for the PlayStation line of consoles since 1996. Today, CEO Ted Price revealed that the studio is working on a brand new, multiplatform franchise and has signed a publishing deal with EA Partners.

The deal will see Insomniac bring its new game—which has yet to be detailed—to both the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. And, like the newly formed Respawn Entertainment, Price told G4tv.com that one of the major deciding factors to work with EAP was a desire to maintain IP ownership.

"EAP works with some of the most well-known independent developers in the world who own their own IP," he explained. "For us, that was also an important aspect of this deal—to retain creative control of the intellectual property."

Price also revealed in a blog post that Insomniac will be slowing down its development cycle, which has seen the studio release at least one new game every year since the first Ratchet & Clank game hit the PlayStation 2 back in 2002.

"You may be wondering why we’re announcing this game now, and how it relates to our existing projects," Price wrote. "We’ve been developing games on an annual pace during the last 16 years. One thing that has become apparent to us though is that in order to live up to our own high standards of quality, we want to give ourselves more development time to iterate and polish our games. All future Insomniac titles will benefit from longer development cycles, which will directly benefit you, our fans."

And in spite of the new game and the new deal with EAP, Price says that the studio will continue to work on both the Resistance and Ratchet & Clank series in the future. "Our relationship with Sony Computer Entertainment is still very strong, and continues as we develop additional projects exclusively for PlayStation 3—projects that will take full advantage of our additional development time."

From the first Spyro the Dragon through last year's excellent Ratchet & Clank: A Crack in Time, Insomniac's games have always served as a showcase for PlayStation hardware, which makes this deal all the more surprising. Hopefully we'll be able to learn more about the new game at E3 next month.

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